Portage Wisconsin (Madison, Baraboo, Tomah: sex offenders, crime, mortgages)

[JoshB]

What age would this gene krause be? When were they born? What sex?

[Springy23]

Originally Posted by stephenluscombe

My wife and I are considering moving to Portage. She is originally from Madison. I, on the other hand, am from Plymouth UK. We are living in the UK at the moment but intend moving to the States this summer - if all paperwork is in order. My wife would like to live between her parents in Madison and her twin sister who lives further up just north of Sparta. It seems as if Portage has pretty good access to both areas (and I'm happy that it seems to have a train station - I love train transportation - although they do seem few and far between. Also, I do seem to recall that US trains seem to be heavy on the horns - is train noise a problem in Portage??? How far do you need to live away from the railway lines?

Also, we have a 5 and a 7 year old. Does it make much of a difference which elementary schools they should try and get into?

Cheers for any advice to a limey.

I would suggest living closer to Madison, either in the suburbs or in the city itself. That is where you will find the best options for school, activities, jobs, etc. Portage is only about 30 minutes or so from Madison, and it might be better just living in Madison and taking on the extra 30 minutes when you drive to Sparta. Madison is in general a great area to live for many reasons! Hope this helps!

[stephenluscombe]

I agree that we would ideally like to live in Madison but the price increase in houses and property taxes seem to be astronomical - prices drop precipitately the more you move away from Madison. We are both geographically independent as far as work is concerned - as long as we can get Internet access we can work from pretty much anywhere. We would like to be able to buy property outright - as we are coming from overseas we don't really want to get into negotiations over mortgages and whatnot. Experience tells us that simplicity is key. US banks may not trust or even understand our credit rating.

We have toyed with the idea of Tomah for similar reasons to Portage. Even Mauston and New Lisbon - but Portage seems to have the advantage to proximity to Madison - and to grandparents - who we hope will make excellent babysitters:-)

Thanks for your opinion though and if we had deeper pockets we would probably take ti.

[JoshB]

No problem Stephen! Hope that D.M. helped you out on our city.

Take Care,

[Springy23]

Originally Posted by stephenluscombe

I agree that we would ideally like to live in Madison but the price increase in houses and property taxes seem to be astronomical - prices drop precipitately the more you move away from Madison. We are both geographically independent as far as work is concerned - as long as we can get Internet access we can work from pretty much anywhere. We would like to be able to buy property outright - as we are coming from overseas we don't really want to get into negotiations over mortgages and whatnot. Experience tells us that simplicity is key. US banks may not trust or even understand our credit rating.

We have toyed with the idea of Tomah for similar reasons to Portage. Even Mauston and New Lisbon - but Portage seems to have the advantage to proximity to Madison - and to grandparents - who we hope will make excellent babysitters:-)

Thanks for your opinion though and if we had deeper pockets we would probably take ti.

Yeah, I used to live over by Tomah and I would definitely say Portage would be better for you for all the reasons you've mentioned. Tomah is okay, but Portage is closer to activity.

[sassyfur98]

We lived in Portage for many years, and loved it......up until abuot 5 years ago. Because of the prison, many "not so good families" have moved to the area. The crime is terrible for a small town. go to the daily register online wiscnews.com and read. There are muggings downtown. A murder around the corner from our house last year (we moved back from southern Alabama because I thought I missed it..we were there less than a year, and the only reason it was that long was because we were under lease) They burried the body in the back yard. A 14 year old boy was so severely burned and abused it was the worst case our investigators had ever seen.
I could not get out of there fast enough...and it is too bad, because we used to love good ol Portage.
Rents are very high, and few and far between (for quality..lots of slum lords) The housing market is stagnant, and taxes are out of this world. My ex in laws had their house on the market for $300k. IT was appraised at $400k. They sold it for $200k just to get out from under it..the taxes were $7k, and that was several years ago. They have went up 2x since then, and they are fixin to raise them again.
My suggestion...look at Pardeeville, or Baraboo, or Rio, Columbus, just anywhere but Portage.
Good luck to ya.

[JoshB]

Originally Posted by sassyfur98

We lived in Portage for many years, and loved it......up until abuot 5 years ago. Because of the prison, many "not so good families" have moved to the area. The crime is terrible for a small town. go to the daily register online wiscnews.com and read. There are muggings downtown. A murder around the corner from our house last year (we moved back from southern Alabama because I thought I missed it..we were there less than a year, and the only reason it was that long was because we were under lease) They burried the body in the back yard. A 14 year old boy was so severely burned and abused it was the worst case our investigators had ever seen.
I could not get out of there fast enough...and it is too bad, because we used to love good ol Portage.
Rents are very high, and few and far between (for quality..lots of slum lords) The housing market is stagnant, and taxes are out of this world. My ex in laws had their house on the market for $300k. IT was appraised at $400k. They sold it for $200k just to get out from under it..the taxes were $7k, and that was several years ago. They have went up 2x since then, and they are fixin to raise them again.
My suggestion...look at Pardeeville, or Baraboo, or Rio, Columbus, just anywhere but Portage.
Good luck to ya.

In a way I'm trying to defend our town, but I do see what you mean. I must say that that murder could happen in any city. May I ask why is the prison bringing many not so good families to the area. A murder could happen in Baraboo it didn't happen here beacause it's Portage.

The price of things, frankly I must say this. Down in TN, GA, Ky, AL things are a lot cheaper. unless you were raised here you really wouldn't understand. What's that 7k taxes paying for? Well oustanding schools, and many amenities that is available to Wisconsin. I must say I do plan on calling Boone, NC home within the next few years. I've lived in the area my whole life and must say that everything you pointed out doesn't happen just in Portage. What about the cops that were busted for doing Illegal things in the police cars in Pardeeville in the 90's. Yes Pardeeville had a police dept. What about that joke they call a fire department in Columbus, My family lives in Columbus, it's a nice town...... But the city government has a lot of kinks. My point here is...... Every city has its cons. I'm sure some cities are better off than Portage, but most are the same.

[stephenluscombe]

I also wonder why the addition of a prison would bring in so many 'not so good' families. Do they work at the prison?? or do they move to be nearer incarcerated inmates? It does make Portage sound a bit scarier to raise a family in. Is Sauk City or Baraboo a better fit. Or perhaps Wisconsin Dells? We're not writing Portage off, but we may want to increase the area under consideration.

[JoshB]

Stephen, I think that the original person posting on here that was opposing Portage just wasn't happy where she was. I mean she moved straight back to Alabama. Why? She could've moved to one of the other so called great cities.

There all great towns!

[sassyfur98]

I lived in Wi from the time I was born (in Columbus) until I was 32. I grew up in Rio, which is 17 miles from Portage. When I turned 18, I moved to Portage and loved it very much. I lived there off an on for 14 years! So, Josh, I most certainly was raised there. Someone asked for an opinion, and I gave one. In an earlier post, you said Portage wasn't so great, so why the change of heart all of a sudden? And as far as why I moved right back to Alabama, well, that is none of your business quite frankly.(with all due respect) May I ask how old you are? Have you been to TN, GA, AL, or KY? The price of SOME things are cheaper, not all. Some are much, much more expensive. As far as products go, it evens out. Property taxes are cheaper, but sales tax is quite a bit more. In the end, it all evens out. As for the schools, yes, Portage does still have good schools, as does all the surrounding towns.
Please, don't take my word for it. You can read the daily register online for free. It is the Portage newspaper. The high school, and an elementary school right next door, were just broken in to by breaking windows. And yes, crime is present everywhere, but I have seen the increase in Portage with my own 2 eyes. My daughter is off to college in Aug, and when she was younger, she could ride her bike around Portage and I felt she was safe. Now, I would not like her to walk downtown at night by herself.
As far as the not so good families...they are moving to be closer to the inmates. Again, this is just my opinion and my experience, but sometimes you do get an inmate that comes from a good family, but mostly, you get bad families that create inmates.
Now, with all that being said, I just found out my sister-in-law has throat and brain cancer (in her early 30's) so we are once again moving back to Wi. But, it most definitely will be the Pardeeville area. I will not go back to Portage.
Baraboo would be good. Wi. Dells is ok, it is so full of tourists through the summer the traffic is terrible. With the addition of the indoor water parks, the winter is getting very busy too.If you don't mind that, then the dells would be ok. For me though, it is a GREAT city to visit for fun, I just like things a little slower.
Oh, and finally, my ex-father-in-law, (that sold the house because of terribly high property taxes...among other things)was a Columbia County Circuit Court Judge in Portage for over 30 years. They own a home in Florida, and a condo in Portage they bought when their other house sold a couple years ago. This summer, they are going back to Portage to list the Condo....they have decided to STAY year round residents of Florida, and a lot of it has to do with the increase in crime and the way Portage has become. It is not just my opinion, it is also that of a man that has seen the crime first hand, and agrees Portage is not where he would like to spend ANY more time.
Good luck to you, and feel free to ask more questions if you have them.
Saundra